Rules & Guidelines ~ Music Teachers' Association of California San Fernando East Valley Branch

Performance Rules & Guidelines

Recital Rules for Performers, Family and others in Attendance

Dress

Etiquette

Branch Guidelines and Fees for Recitals and Festivals

Contemporary Music Festival

Classical and Romantic Festival

Concerto Competition

Certificate of Merit PANEL Students

Certificate of Merit Honors Festival

Southern California Junior Bach Festival

Branch Scholarship Competition

Spring Festival

Recital Rules for Performers, Family and others in Attendance

Before each recital, teachers should review these MTAC SFEV recital guidelines and relay them to students, parents and others who may attend.

Dress:
Performers are expected to be neatly groomed and appropriately dressed for recitals. A blouse/skirt, dress, or dressy pants and blouse are suggested for girls, collared dress shirt and pants for boys. No jeans, tee shirts, large logos, shorts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, flip-flops, sandals, or sneakers are permitted. Skirt lengths and necklines should be appropriate.

Etiquette:
In order to provide a distraction-free atmosphere for performers and audience members, please observe the following:

Students and guests should remain seated for the duration of the entire program. Parents with small children should sit near the exit and be prepared to take them out if they become noisy or distracting. If it is absolutely necessary to leave in the middle of a recital, please do so only during applause between performances. Toddlers and infants may not attend recitals.
Cell phones, pagers and all noise-making gadgets must be turned off during the concert. Videos and no-flash photography is allowed only if the equipment used does not make noise.
Please do not talk during performances. No gum, food or drinks is allowed in the concert hall.
Teachers are responsible for instructing each student and family about concert dress and behavior. If a problem arises, the Board may counsel teachers as necessary.

Branch Guidelines and Fees for Recitals and Festivals

1. Recitals and festivals are open to students of active and provisional members in good standing in the branch. Keyboard and instrumental students are eligible until they become 19 years of ages. Vocalists are eligible until they become 25 years of age. After that they are welcome to perform in Adult Recitals.

2. Teachers are asked to be selective in choosing music for recitals. SFEV wishes to maintain a high standard of repertoire. Method-book repertoire and simplified arrangements are not appropriate for branch recitals.

3. Whenever it is necessary to have more than one recital in an afternoon, any teacher submitting more than four entries may expect to have students in more than one program. Teachers should provide the chairperson of each recital as much flexibility in scheduling as possible with regard to students’ availability. Be sure to indicate if there are two or more family members participating.

4. Schedule changes for teachers or performers are occasionally necessary, and giving students an opportunity to perform is a priority of this branch. Chairpeople will do their best to accommodate requests for a change in the schedule when absolutely necessary, but teachers should keep requests to an absolute minimum as this does cause much extra work for the chairperson and for judges when involved.

5. Teachers are expected to attend the recitals in which their students perform. Teachers, please inform the chairperson if you will not be able to attend.

6. Piano students must memorize their music (with some exceptions as outlined in individual festival rules.) Memorization is generally not required for string, wind and voice students (check specific rules for individual festivals.)

7. Students requiring an accompanist must provide their own.

8. For General Recitals, an entry fee of $20.00 is required for each student participating as a soloist and $25 per student for piano duets. Ensembles are only required to pay one fee of $20.00 (both of these fees are applicable only if the venue is LAVC.) The Classical and Romantic Festival and the Contemporary Festival fees are $27.00 per soloist or ensemble, the Bach Festival fee is $~ and the Scholarship Competition fee is $30.00.

9. Teachers should send application forms for all their students and one check per studio payable to MTAC-San Fernando East Valley to the recital chairperson. Fees are non-refundable.

10. For all adjudicated events, awards are given at the discretion of the judges, and the decision of the judges is final.

11. All registration deadlines are firm.

12. Teachers are responsible for all guidelines printed in the directory and updates on our website mtacsfev.org.

Contemporary Music Festival

1. All rules under "Branch Guidelines and Fees" apply to this festival unless they conflict with the specific rules for this Festival.

2. The purpose of the Contemporary Festival is for the exploration of new art music. This festival is for students in grades K-12. Repertoire should be Level III or higher. Students may play music composed after January 1, 1920; however all music composed by Sergei Prokofiev, Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky will be accepted regardless of the date of composition. Jazz, pop, show tunes, arrangements and method materials are not permitted. Piano transcriptions of the music of Astor Piazzolla are now permitted as they are in the Certificate of Merit Program.

3. Student entries must be accurate and with complete information given for the title, opus, date of composition, and timing of each piece. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. Use the official Contemporary Festival Application form, one for each student, duo, or ensemble.

4. The festival fee is $22.00 per student, duo, or ensemble (Levels Prep, 1 & 2) and $27 per student, duo, or ensemble for Levels 3 - 10..

5. There are no restrictions concerning the number of students each teacher may enter. However, at the branch level, compositions are limited to six minutes for each performer. For compositions longer than six minutes, the teacher may make cuts or ask that the judges cut the performance at the six-minute mark. Tuning time must not exceed one minute.

6. A soloist may also perform as a member of an ensemble or duo team. In the case of piano duos, please clearly differentiate on the application form whether the piece is for one piano 4-hands or for two pianos.

7. All keyboard music must be memorized, with the exception of difficult avant-garde works (chairperson should be consulted to authorize this exception), pieces with non-conventional (modern) notation, and ensemble music. Memorization is not required for strings, woodwinds, or voice.

8. On the day of the festival, students must bring an original copy of their music for the judges, clipped open, measures numbered. Photocopies are not acceptable unless the music is out of print or an ensemble needs a page turn. If a composition is out of print, it is required that some form of documentation to that effect be given to the Festival Chair on the day of the festival before the composition is played.

Classical and Romantic Festival

1. All rules under "Branch Guidelines and Fees" apply to this festival unless they conflict with the specific rules for this Festival.

2. The Classical and Romantic Festival is not a competition, but will be adjudicated.

3. The time limit for each performer is six minutes. Student may perform any number of pieces by any number of composers within the time limit.

4. Student entries must be accurate and with complete information given for the title, opus, date of composition, and timing of each piece. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. Only use the official Classical-Romantic Festival Application form, one for each student, duo, or ensemble.

4. The festival fee is $27.00 per student, duo, or ensemble.

5. There are no restrictions concerning the number of students each teacher may enter.

6. A soloist may also perform as a member of an ensemble or duo team. In the case of piano duos, please clearly differentiate on the application form whether the piece is for one piano 4-hands or for two pianos.

7. All keyboard music must be memorized, with the exception of ensemble music. Memorization is not required for strings, woodwinds, or voice.

8. On the day of the festival, students must bring an original copy of their music for the judges, clipped open, measures numbered. Photocopies are not acceptable unless the music is out of print or an ensemble needs a page turn. If a composition is out of print, some form of documentation to that effect is required to be given to the Festival Chair on the day of the festival before the composition is played.

Concerto Competition

1. The MTAC SFEV Concerto Competition is open to any student, high school age (19 years of age or younger) or under, of any Active Teacher in the SFEV Branch.

2. Students may audition a concerto movement either as soloists or as an ensemble on any instrument(s):
strings, winds, keyboard, and voice.

3. Audition fee is $50.00

4. Two students will be selected to perform with the La Mirada Symphony Orchestra during one of their regular-season subscription concerts. Judges chosen for the competition will be encouraged to select one junior (age 14 and under) and one senior winner (15 - 19), however, judges will be free to select two from one of those categories if they are so inclined, based on audition results. Alternate performers will also be chosen.

5. Students may be accompanied by their own teachers, but it is recommended that a professional accompanist be hired for the audition. Students should provide a copy of the music for the judges.

6. If the winning student will be playing music easily found in the standard orchestral library, no charge will be levied upon the student's family for the concert. If the winning student will be performing music that is relatively obscure, the student's family may be charged for the cost of renting the music for the orchestra. Student's family must pay said charges well in advance of the concert or an "alternate" may be chosen to perform, instead.

7. Winning students must agree to be present for all rehearsals called for by the conductor of the La Mirada Orchestra. If a student does not show up for any rehearsal, the Concerto Committee may call upon an "alternate" to take their place.

8. Winning students should understand that they will be representing their Branch, their teacher and themselves in a professional concert setting and should be prepared to arrive early for all rehearsals and performances and to dress appropriately. Students who perform with the orchestra will be asked to write a letter of appreciation to the La Mirada Symphony Conductor and Board of Directors.

Certificate of Merit PANEL Students

1. Please note that branch panel student will be evaluated at a different date than the Non-Panel students.

2. The date and place of the regional panel evaluations are to be announced.

3. Check the state website (mtac.org) for complete up-to-date information.

Certificate of Merit Honors Festival

1. All rules under "Branch Guidelines and Fees" apply to this festival unless they conflict with the specific rules for this festival.

2. The Festival is for students who were awarded honors in the Certificate of Merit program.

3. To qualify for Branch Honors, students must:

Be Level IV or higher
Receive a Good or an Excellent rating for technique
Receive an Average, a Good or an Excellent rating for sight-reading
Score 70% or higher on the theory test
Receive a 5-, 5, or 5+ for the chosen piece, which must be memorized [Memory requirements otherwise (keyboard only) are the same as for CM in general: 2 pieces memorized for Levels IV and higher, and the etude for Level X students must also be memorized.]

Southern California Junior Bach Festival

All teachers who submit their students for participation should be familiar with the rules and guidelines of the SCJBF which are available at: www.scjbf.org/rules.htm

Branch Scholarship Competition

1. All rules under "Branch Guidelines and Fees' apply to the Scholarship Competition unless they conflict with the specific rules for this Competition.

2. The Competition is open to students of SFEV Branch Active members, only. The teacher must be the primary teacher on record.

3. Students will have studied at least 6 months with their current teacher before entering.

4. A $30.00 fee will accompany each application. Included in the application will be proof of the student's age (birth certificate, passport, driver's license, etc.). The age of the student as of the audition date will determine the category. Students are eligible through their senior year of high school.

5. Each student will perform a maximum of ten minutes for the audition. Piano students must play from memory. For all others, memorization is not required.

6. Each applicant must participate in at least one other branch activity during the year.

7. Students are asked to arrive 20 minutes in advance of their scheduled audition time. Each performer will bring scores of all repertoire, with pages marked and measures numbered for the judges reference.

8. Photocopies are not acceptable.

9. Contestants will receive notification of the results and the judges' comments. Please note that any personal communication with the judges, from the students, parents or teachers will result in the disqualification of the performer.

10. Each scholarship is awarded on a one-time basis; first place winners may not compete again in the same age category. Winner are presented in recital and scholarships are awarded at the conclusion of the branch Spring Festival Recital.

11. Teachers and Parents are not allowed in adjudication area. Students may be disqualified at the discretion of the chairman with no fees refunded.

12. The categories and repertoire requirements of the scholarship competition are as follows:

Piano Competition

Category I - (age 16 – 18)                        1st $200         2nd $100

Category II – (age 13 – 15)                       1st $150         2nd $75

Category III – (age 12 and under)             1st $100         2nd $50

Repertoire: 3 original works, chosen from contrasting stylistic periods. No concertos or transcriptions, no popular music.

Instrumental Competition

Category I (age 14 – 18) 1st $200 2nd $100

Category II (age 9 – 13) 1st $150 2nd $75

Repertoire: 2 works, chosen from contrasting stylistic periods. A concerto movement may be performed. Standard transcriptions are accepted. No popular music.

Vocal Competition

Category I – (age 14 – 18) 1st $200 2nd $100

Category II – (age 9 – 13) 1st $150 2nd $75

Repertoire: 2 works in contrasting styles. One will be an aria or art song from the standard repertoire, sung in the original language. The other will be a song sung in English (Broadway musical or American traditional song). No popular music.

13. Performances are limited to a total time of 10 minutes per student.

Spring Festival

1. All rules under "Branch Guidelines and Fees" apply to this Festival unless they conflict with the specific rules for this Festival.

2. The Spring Festival is a general recital as well as a showcase for the winners of the scholarship competition, and for student composers.

3. Performances are limited to eight minutes per student (whether or not a scholarship winner). Each studio is limited to 12 minutes; however, this time limit does not apply to a studio that has scholarship winners.